Morning Musume 8/28 single 『Wagamama Ki no mama Ai no Joke/Ai no Gundan』

Tsunku♂ Comment: 『Wagamama Ki no mama Ai no Joke/Ai no Gundan』
This is part of the cool, danceable Morning Musume series.

As I thought, just watching that cool dance is refreshing to the heart.

『Wagamama Ki no mama Ai no Joke』
The clincher for this song is the “aisaretai aisaretai” part, probably.
This is a song that would get a crowd pumped up during concerts, but I pretty much planned for that phrase to get stuck looping around in your heads.
I wonder if everyone will end up humming along to that “aisaretai” phrase eventually.
I got the girls to sing the beginning “wagamama kinomama” part in somewhat of a whisper.
When I was writing the song I had originally been planning for them to sing it normally, but when I was recording the demo tape, I thought “Oh, if this part was whispery it would be good!”, so I went with that.

Well then, about the content, it’s a song about a girl who is just a little awkward but still aims to improve her social standing in life.
Even though she tries her best to put on a fake smile and works hard to master social skills, it doesn’t go well and she experiences a lot of trouble, but if one were to look at it in a different way, in the end it’s really a story of a girl who worries too much, but even so is still determined to do her best and move on.
To be honest, I feel like this really fits the current members of Morning Musume.
The underpinning of the sound would the Simmons-style drum beat, and on the whole it has a springy rhythm.
Without getting a feel for the beat, dancing to it will be difficult.
The choreographer for this dance is Yoshiko as well, but I did set a few minor things myself.
With the calmness of the interlude, the spirited dance, as well as the chorus that emerges to smack you in the face.
Well, this is also in part a homage to Imokintorio’s (a famous comic song unit) “High School Lullaby”, so I hope everyone will enjoy it!

『Ai no Gundan』
The points of this song is, firstly, the riff in the intro as well as the digitized voice that enters before the music begins. That voice is also originally from one of the members (It’s Michishige’s voice sample).
In this world, stuff like “There is value in being scolded”, or “Work hard while you’re young” are given out as advice a lot, but sometimes you end up wondering “is that really true!?”.
That’s just the beginning of the complaints of the young, and the repetition of “really?” throughout the song is sort of a characteristic for it.
For someone like me who has spent more than half their life in Tokyo, I gradually start to feel like Tokyo is a second hometown to me.
Well, it may be more because of the fact that my family is here with me.
As there are many members of Morning Musume who were born in the other prefectures, it is my hope that one day they will come to understand the meaning of the lyrics, so I used it in the bridge.
Indeed, it is only human to always be conscious of what someone else has.
But if you were more grateful for your current circumstances, I wonder if that is the split in the path between loss and gain in life? That’s what I thought.
That is why I inserted such a phrase.
As for the dance, it begins with smooth movements in slow motion like in taichi.
But the defining point in the end would be the “Ai no Gundan!” part.
The last half-time has “ai no” on repeat, but this part was an idea that came to me while I was recording the demo.
Michishige is a lot older than the rest of the members, and well, she takes care of them.
This is a great learning experience for her. There’s a lot she can learn from coaching her juniors.
I too have learned all sorts of things from when I started guiding Morning Musume, because I had to look into some many things.

Fukumura’s expressions have changed ever since she has been made sub-leader.
She has set her own lines of expectation and brought herself up to that level, that’s the kind of image she has.
I hope that she doesn’t simply stop at her sheer love of Hello!Project, but to aim for even higher goals beyond that.

Ikuta has gotten even more photogenic on video lately. She looks very stirring.
I don’t know just how conscious she is of the expressions she is producing, but it’s really cool.
The way her hair is slightly mussed with sweat makes for a really cool picture.

Sayashi does no less than expected for dance, but more than that, you can see the way she puts her heart into the song.
There is a certain anguish and depair in her expressions, and adds a convincing finishing touch to the song.
I shall challenge her with songs that will require her to smile and laugh more in the future!

Suzuki’s dance is a lot sharper now. Her singing has more power in it now too.
Now if she could improve on the way she ends a note while singing, it’d be even better.
I hope that she finds more confidence in herself, regain her original humorous character, and then bring that to perfection.

Iikubo is a sub-leader too. I’m grateful for her occasional mail about how things are going.
Like what the other members are doing, so I know very well just what sort of potential Iikubo holds.
And though I was worried about Iikubo’s dancing back when she first joined, but recently she has improved a great deal. I’m looking forward to her future!

Ishida’s dance is sharp and cool as always, but with the colour of her hair, she gives off an impression of a mischievous little devil.
She has learned how to show more expressions now. This is what makes Morning Musume what they are. It can’t be helped that Moring Musume is currently a collection of good children.
Ah, it doesn’t mean that Ishida is a bad child, please don’t misunderstand me!

Satou still has that “are you doing this on purpose!?” image of childishness to her.
But I really want to start raising Satou to become more adult-like gradually.
Since her voice and expressions have developed quite a bit, tis the season to raise a COOL Satou!

Kudou has been growing taller rapidly, looking ever more gallant, and the intensity of her voice is starting to match her body type.
As she hates losing, sometimes she makes fruitless efforts, but even so I hope that she will fearlessly continue to push forward.

Oda has gotten somewhat girlier, her voice more stable, and she has gotten enough fine control over her dancing down to her fingers as well. Despite it not being quite a year yet, she has really improved.
I really hope that she will continue to grow into a member whose singing can touch hearts, so she should study and read more in order to see things from different perspectives and gain insight into them.

There’s a one thing which I disagree with – I don’t want Masaki to change. Indeed, she does act like a child, but I think that’s what her fans love in her. It makes me smile whenever I see Sato being air-headed as always.

I’m looking forward to upcoming single! It looks like it’s gonna be something really cool. Since Reina is gone, I think that agency put some extra effort in it, in order to make it sell well even if one of the most popular members isn’t in the group anymore. I hope it’ll be like that :-)

I agree! Masaki should just stay the way she is, but I’m not entirely averse to her changing….ONLY on stage. It’d be cool if she could switch on a mature side for a performance, but revert back to her normal childish self once off stage. It might even be a good idol selling point. Haha.

I really hope they pull off something cool for this single too! Really looking forward to it and hoping to hell Tsunku doesn’t troll us too badly…XD

About 「Wagamama Ki no mama Ai no Joke」: “Well, this is also in part a homage to Imokintorio’s (a famous comic song unit) “High School Lullaby”, so I hope everyone will enjoy it!”
／)^ɛ^(＼ I’m am looking forward to it! I really like the beat to HSL and the antics of the performers.
Yossie/Abe/Aya perfom 「High School Lullaby」: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v893597MqDk5h9A

I’m beyond glad to know that Tsunku♂ is sticking to the cool-dance songs again. I definitely think that’s the way to go to get new fans interested in the shin-members before Sayumi graduates. And I like that he’s going with last-minute gut feelings. I think he must have been doing that a lot since 「Renai Hunter」 and they’ve been working out.

I’m still not sure what to expect from 「Ai no Gundan」 sound-wise. A part of me is hoping for the strangeness of 「Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai」, that song was ingeniously built. When you first hear it you can’t tell if you ‘like it’ or ‘hate it’ because it sounds like 3 different songs pressed together but are probably leaning closer to ‘hate it’, so you listen to it one more time and it’s most definitely on the ‘like it’ side, then you listen a third time… and you are HOOKED to the point of humming it all day long. I want to feel that addiction once more!

Tsunku♂ is watching over the girls properly! (￣^￣) It makes me happy to see him watching their growth as closely as us fans are. I’ve got to agree with all his assessments, ‘specially Zukki. And yes, Eripon is getting so beautiful! She shines in the background. PonPon are definitely going to become the sexy-duo.

I’m happy to hear that both Mizuki and Haruna are taking their roles as sub-leader very seriously, it looks like Momusu will be okay when Sayumi graduates in a few years (or less?). Щ(ºДºщ) I wasn’t happy initially about Haruna being made sub-leader, it really shattered my faith in H!P to be a company that rewards based on experience rather than based on age alone. With Juice=Juice’s leader & sub-leader picks I’m totally done with putting that kind of faith in H!P, they don’t care about experience at all. I’m surprised to see Haruna mailing Tsunku♂ Momusu updates, but am happy that it’s something she can do and he encourages it.

The Mizuki/Haruna sub-leader combi totally shatters my hope of Momusu one day being lead by the PonPon duo. (;´Д`)ノ I really loved that dream… Maybe when Mizuki becomes leader they will also promote Eripon to sub-leader too, and Haruna will become Harupon, and Momusu will be lead by the PonPonPon trio! (〃ﾟ∇ﾟ〃) Hey, it could happen…

I’m kinda glad Tsunku realized what i saw too,Suzuki isn’t as cheerful as before. I think like he said she lost confidence. When she performs i feel like i’m trying so hard to look for her. Though there are some really good shots of her in the mv i miss her happy and excited character.